


Hyphen

by rathernotmyname



Series: Fictober! 2020 [24]
Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Dubious Canon Compliance, Fictober! Day 24, Gen, Hot Chocolate, Josh the Philosopher, Sam Is So Done, but in a fond way, everyone else kind of appears but they don't have any lines, interpret it however you want, meaning: idk if this is canon compliant or a Everyone Lives AU, winter activities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:15:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28088352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rathernotmyname/pseuds/rathernotmyname
Summary: In the course of his short, pathetic 19-years-long life, Josh had seldom heard his name spoken alone.Or:Josh thinks about names. Sam has the questionable honor to listen and roll her eyes.
Relationships: Sam Giddings & Josh Washington
Series: Fictober! 2020 [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050200
Kudos: 10





	Hyphen

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note:  
> I DO NOT CONSENT TO MY WORK BEING HOSTED OR REPOSTED ON ANY UNOFFICIAL APPS OR WEBSITES OTHER THAN ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN WITHOUT MY APPROVAL, PARTICULARLY APPS WITH AD REVENUE AND SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES.

In the course of his short, pathetic 19-years-long life, Josh had seldom heard his name spoken alone. 

In the beginning, it was always Hannah-and-Beth-and-Josh or Josh-and-Hannah-and-Beth. Until they were four or five, the twins were very clingy and followed Josh everywhere, if he wanted or not. Luckily, Josh was softhearted enough (and also had a severe case of proud-older-brother-syndrome) that he didn’t mind it much and more or less encouraged and enjoyed it. 

Later he realized that the reason for that was that they were a constant in his at parts very unstable life, particularly when the depression and hallucination stuff started by the time he was eleven. 

And as the twins slowly understood that there was a world bigger than their backyard and that they were allowed to make friends that weren’t Josh’s friends, as well, they became Hannah-and-Beth, and oh, could you get Josh, dinner is ready. 

Josh already nurtured his hard-earned reputation of the class clown by that time, which landed him a seat in the front of the classroom in a matter of months. Boom. Now it was Josh-and-Chris or Chris-and-Josh and Hannah-and-Beth. 

Chris insisted on taking in Ashley a couple years later, but Josh never really agreed, because Chris-and-Josh-and-Ash didn’t have such a nice ring to it. (He certainly wasn’t scared of becoming an afterthought once again, no, Sir.)

And then they got older, and in a development that surprised absolutely nobody, Josh’s friends became Hannah-and-Beth’s friends and the other way round. That one year of age-difference between them was simply not enough to live in completely different circles. 

It certainly birthed interesting, fresh and sexy new dynamics, even thought the constant bitching and fighting and various love triangles got on Josh’s nerves. 

In a rare show of autonomy, Hannah brought a friend that she quickly declared as her best friend before Beth could do so, and that friend was Sam. 

“And so, in a dashing move that still makes Beth laugh and Hannah very angry, there never really was a Hannah-and-Sam. Not even a Hannah-and-Beth-and-Sam,” Josh proclaimed, waving a hand in the air as if he had just told a world-changing prophecy, almost knocking the beanie off his head.

“Pray tell,” Sam answered dryly, taking a long sip from her hot chocolate. Josh had never known that one could drink hot chocolate exasperatedly, but with Sam, everything was possible.

“Why so wary? It’s a tale as old as time. Sister brings best friend, sister’s got a brother, brother falls in love with best friend, brother dates best friend, brother breaks best friend’s heart and falls out with sister, best friend finds out that she’s pregnant, brother comes back, they forgive each other, marry and maybe kill the sister and everything is just splendid.”

The mug of hot chocolate was placed down securely on the kitchen table before Sam dramatically keeled to the side, burying her face in the couch cushions. 

“That’s the plot of every second Twilight fanfiction,” she groaned, arms flopping to her side in a defeated manner. “And that’s really how you want to preserve our relationship for posterity? Shame on you.”

With a wooden creak Josh slid off the bar stool to get more hot coco, and maybe find some more mini marshmallows. 

“That was just the test version,” Josh placated her and opened one of the cupboards. Didn’t he just buy some marshmallows? Hadn’t he gone to the store like, yesterday? “I just wanted to see if you were still paying attention.”

“Oh, now I’m comforted,” Sam mocked and rolled her eyes, sitting up and taking her mug again, taking a long, reproachful swig.

“I’m glad, Sammy-Salami. I’m very-”

“Don’t call me that.”

“What, did you mean Sammy-”

“I dare you.”

Josh lifted his hands and eyebrows in a mollifying manner, palms turned to Sam innocently. “I would never,” he lied. 

Sam buried her nose in her mug with a snort, shaking her head slightly. Still, Josh could see a grin peeking out over the rim of the mug. 

Success.

“As I was saying, I’m very eager to preserve not only our relationship, but also ourselves for posterity. Everything is arranged for our mummification already, the cryo-tubes are in development as we speak…”

“Mummification and cryo-tubes?” Sam asked skeptically, slender hand moving to wipe her nose absentmindedly before she abruptly stopped herself. “Seems a little overkill to me.”

Josh threw a packet of paper towels her way, which she caught like an expert and quickly blew her dripping nose. (Josh wouldn’t have stood a chance against her in dodge ball, that much was certain. He didn’t stand a chance against her in many ways, except for lifting weights maybe, and he wasn’t even really sure about that. You were always in for a surprise with Sam.)

“Well, better safe than sorry, right? Also, if we’re gonna be woken up by some wannabe-scientists that should know better like in a good, classic horror movie, being a frozen mummy is a certain aesthetic that hasn’t been beaten to death yet.”

“It might be by the time we’re woken up again.”

“Well, maybe. Who the fuck knows.”

“Also,” Sam blew her nose again, “why do I have to be necromanced along with you? Why don’t you take Chris?”

Josh stalked back to the couch and plopped down next to Sam, making her jump a few inches to the side to not be crushed by his marshmallow-binging-caused weight. (Well, maybe the amounts of pizza he consumed on the daily were partly at fault, as well. But where the hell had those marshmallows gone?) 

“Sammy,” he said, throwing an arm around her and rocking from side to side, patting her head like a parent that didn’t like to explain their child how much the world actually sucked. “Sammy, Sammy, Sammy. Chris? Christopher the nerd, a frozen, undead mummy? Sam, he would be the dopiest monster that ever existed, always losing his bandages or limbs, I can see it. Absolutely no scare-factor. Zero, null, nada, niente. Our perfect horror movie afterlife would turn into a comedy with a few scientists who show the monster modern snacks, and the mummy ends up going to high school, disguised in a jogging suit, telling people that he’s a foreigner. No way, Sam, no fucking way. Also, we’d have to freeze Ash, too, because a proper family comedy high school jock mummy needs a mummy wife who paints lipstick onto her bandaged face and carries little pink purses and screams at door-to-door-vendors and poor little pizza delivery boys. I couldn’t live with that, Sam. What a cruel way of fate to punish them for being so fucking oblivious.”

Sam blinked a few times, taking her time to sort through the flood of bullshit that Josh had spewed. She opened her mouth, stopped short, and closed it again. 

This happened a few more times, until she gave up, grunted, and gave Josh a little jab to his side, signaling him that it was time to let her go. He obeyed.

“You have a point,” Sam said finally, sounding very helpless and quite exhausted. 

Josh couldn’t blame her, and she hadn’t even heard what his brain crapped out when he was alone in his room. Man oh man, that was a shit show that nobody needed to see.

“I know, right? By the way, did I eat all the marshmallows again or are there some left? I’m having cravings.”

“You always do. And I stopped you, remember? I hid them under the second pan to the right in that cabinet over there.” 

Josh pressed a kiss to her fine, blonde hair, which was crackling with static from the woolen sweater she was wearing, and jumped up from the couch, grabbing Sam’s mug on the way up to take it for a refill. 

“Whatever would I do without you, Sammy?”

“Die of diabetes, that’s what. And I’m measuring the marshmallows. You’re just going to get greedy again.”

As she did just that, Josh did not muse about how funny it was that somewhere along the way, they had gone from Sam and Hannah’s brother Josh to Sam-and-Josh, names almost as inseparable as the twins. 

He did not. 

Well, maybe he did. He was allowed a little comfort in these hard times, right?

**Author's Note:**

> Are they friends? Are they lovers? I don't know, you decide! (I love being ambiguous.)  
> Let Josh have all the marshmallows, Sam, don't be mean. He needs his energy, or else the bullshit factory in his brain will run out of power!  
> Anyway.  
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
